Internet protocol (IP) based telephones are gaining popularity. Currently, users can initiate a telephone call using an IP telephone. Similarly, the IP telephone also allows users to receive telephone calls. IP telephones include, for example, Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) telephones. Like some conventional telephones, IP telephones can be equipped to record voicemail messages from callers when the users of the IP telephones are unavailable to answer calls.
As known in the art, voicemails can be retrieved by the users in a number of ways. For example, using a telephone set in her office, a voicemail user who returns from a lunch break can hear voicemails that were left at her voice mailbox while she was at lunch. Alternatively, the voicemail user could also remotely dial in (e.g., from her home or while she is out of town) to her voice mailbox to retrieve the voice messages. Regardless of the method used, the voicemail user must first access her IP telephone to determine whether or not a new message has been stored in her voice mailbox since the last time she checked the mailbox. This can be inconvenient to the user. For example, a user who attends a seminar must periodically leave the meeting hall to dial in to her voice mailbox to find out whether an important message has been left in her voice mailbox.
Accordingly, there is a need for a system and method that would notify the user instantaneously when a voicemail has arrived at her voice mailbox.